Dictation apparatus



Dec. 17, 1968 w. E. SPRINGER ET AL 3,416,806

DICTATION APPARATUS 2 Sheets-She et 1 Filed Dec. 5. 1966 INVENTORS WILL/AM E. SPRINGER Y JOSEPH A. msscsMs/r/ 44%,, m YM ATTOAA/A'VS Dec. 17, 1968 w. E. SPRINGER ET AL 3,416,806

DICTAT ION APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet z Filed Dec. 5, 1966 u I Mm 1 1,. 0 x M w M mm IIBIIIEIIIII 1' IIK \\-\\\\u7// N s B ll! k A MH m. us m U! B ATTORNEYS United States Patent Office 3,416,806 Patented Dec. 17, 1968 3,416,806 DICTATION APPARATUS William E. Springer, Stratford, and Joseph A. Rescsanskl, Trumbull, Conn., assignors to Dictaphone Corporation, Bridgeport, Conn.

Filed Dec. 5, 1966, Ser. No. 599,033 13 Claims. (Cl. 274-11) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE In a dictating machine in which a belt-record is supported under tension during recording by two mandrels, one of which is movable toward the other to release the tension on the record, apparatus for triggering a mechanism to move the movable mandrel away from the stationary mandrel to tension the record. The stationary mandrel has an axially movable flange against which an edge of the belt-record abuts as the record is slipped over the mandrels. The belt-record pushes the movable flange against a trigger which actuates the tensioning mechanism to tension the record.

There is a continuous effort in the development of dictating machines to afford an operator the greatest conveniences in operating his machine so that he is distracted as little as possible from concentrating on the subject matter of his dictation. For example, it is desirable to reduce to a minimum the effort required in removing a completed record and replacing it with a blank record.

United States Patent 3,256,025, issued June 14, 1966, is directed to dictation apparatus which includes a number of features aimed toward simplifying the various actions that must be taken by a dictator in operating a dictating machine. The apparatus is of the type which employs an endless band or belt-like record as the recording medium. This record is supported on a pair of mandrels, one of which is a drive mandrel and the other is an idler which tensions the record encircling these mandrels. The idler is arranged to be movable from its belttensioning or normal position toward the drive mandrel so that the belt-record may he slipped easily around the two mandrels when the record is inserted into the dictating machine, and to be shifted back to its tensioning position to hold the record taut for recording.

Among the features disclosed in the aforementioned patent is a triggering mechanism which senses when the belt record has been inserted to its operating position and causes the movable idler mandrel to return automatically to its tensioning position. The triggering mechanism is actuated directly by the leading edge of the belt-record as the record is inserted into the machine. By providing this triggering mechanism, the dictators operation of the equipment is simplified in two respects. First, it is unnecessary for the dictator to make a visual examination of whether the belt-record has been introduced into the apparatus to the proper point. Second, the dictator is saved the step of actuating a control mechanism to tension the record after he is satisfied that it has been introduced into the apparatus in the proper manner.

The triggering mechanism described in the aforementioned patent has provided exceptional results in simplifying the actions of a dictator for those machines in which the belt-record is swaged as recording takes place. In this case, the belt-record is necessarily made sufficientl thick to permit identifications to be made in the record. As a result, the leading edge of the record is strong enough to actuate the triggering mechanism without being bent or damaged. When, however, the record is relatively thin, as for example in magnetic recording where the record is not changed physically during recording, the leading edge of the record may become bent or even damaged as the record is inserted into the machine and the leading edge abuts against the sensing element of the triggering mecha nism.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide in improved dictation apparatus a new and improved triggering mechanism which is effective in sensing that a belt-record has been inserted into a dictating machine in the proper manner so as to automatically tension the belt-record for normal operation.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a triggering mechanism which does not damage the belt-record when it is inserted into the machine and which is capable of being actuated by a record of relatively thin material.

These objects, as well as others, are achieved according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention by providing an axially movable flange on one of two mandrels arranged to support a belt-record under tension. The mandrels are arranged so that one is movable toward the other, thereby releasing the tension on a beltrecord and permitting its removal from the mandrels. A new record may be slipped over the mandrels while the movable mandrel is in a tension-released position. Latching means, cocked to hold the movable mandrel in its released position, are located in the path of movement of the movable flange. As a belt-record is slipped over the mandrels, a portion of the leading edge of the record abuts against the flange causing the flange to push against the latching means so as to deactuate the latching means and allow the movable mandrel to be shifted back to its normal position to tension the belt-record. Thus, instead of actuating the triggering mechanism with only a point on the leading edge of the belt-record, the mechanism is released by an appreciable length of the edge of the beltrecord pressing against the movable flange. In this arrangement, a portion of the belt-record is wrapped around the mandrel in cylindrical form and thus has much more axial strength and resistance to bending or damage than it would have if only a point on its leading edge was employed to release the tension triggering mechanism.

For a better understanding of the present invention, together with other and further objects thereof, reference is made to the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a dictating machine incorporating the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a horizontal section of the dictating machine of FIGURE 1 taken under the machine housing and showing the layout of the principle operating parts;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical section, On an enlarged scale, taken along line 33 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical section, on an enlarged scale, taken along line 4-4 of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 5 is a vertical section showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIGURE 1, there is shown a dictating machine, generally indicated at 10, having a hand microphone and control unit, generally indicated at 12, connected together by a suitable cable 13. Near the front of the machine 10 is a knob 14 which functions as a volume control. Beneath this knob is an indicator lamp 16 which glows to show that the machine is turned on and varies in intensity with the loudness of the dictation being recorded.

A belt-record 22 is inserted into the dictating machine 10 by being slipped over a nosepiece 24 which is shaped as shown to guide the record easily into its operating position. A DICTATE button 28 is provided on the hand microphone 12 to cause the machine to record the dictation whenever this button is depressed. If the dictator wishes to reproduce any of the material already recorded, he first presses a two-position control button 32 on the hand microphone to its BACKSPACE position. This moves a recording-playback head (not shown) back to the desired point. When the desired amount of backspacing has been obtained, the dictator shifts the control button 32 through its neutral position to its LISTEN position. The dictator then may listen to the previously recorded material. After he has played back all of the recorded material up to the point of previous farthest advance, he can condition the machine for further recording operations by pressing the DICTATE button 28.

To permit the dictator to move the recording-playback head by hand, there is provided on the front of the machine a manually operable shift arm 34 which extends into the interior of the machine. This shift arm 34 is provided with a thumb button 36 which is connected through a linkage to mechanisms within the machine so as to permit movement of the recording-playback head.

As most clearly shown in FIGURE 2, as the record-belt 22 passes over the nosepiece 24, the record is slipped onto a pair of parallel mandrels 18 and 20. Mandrel 20 is movable toward mandrel 18 so that a record 22 may be removed from or slipped over the two mandrels. This movement of the movable mandrel 20 toward the stationary mandrel 18 is achieved by depressing a button 26 located on the front of the machine. After a used record is removed from the machine, a blank record may be inserted. When the blank record is inserted to the proper depth, the presence of the record is sensed by a triggering mechanism, to be described in more detail hereinafter, and the movable mandrel is returned automatically to its normal position thereby tensioning the record in operating position in the machine.

FIGURE 2 is a horizontal section of the dictating machine 10 of FIGURE 1 taken under the machine housing showing the layout of the principal operating parts and, in particular, a triggering mechanism constructed in accordance with the present invention. FIGURE 3 is a vertical section taken along line 33 of FIGURE 2 and FIGURE 4 is a vertical section taken along line 44 of FIGURE 2. The triggering mechanism is shown cocked in FIGURES 2 and 4 and uncocked in FIGURE 3. The broken lines in FIGURE 3 indicate the positions of the components when the triggering mechanism is cocked. Since the unit shown in FIGURES 2, 3 and 4 differs from the unit described in the aforementioned United States patent only with respect to the triggering mechanism, only the triggering mechanism will be described in detail hereinafter. Furthermore, while the dictating machine in the aforementioned United States patent employs a plastic belt-record which is swaged during recording, the various recording and playback components may be replaced by magnetic recording counterparts to adapt this machine for magnetic recording. Reference should be made to the aforementioned United States patent for a description of the component parts of the unit not described herein.

When the end of the record has been reached the dictator presses the button 26 on the front of the machine in order to release the belt-record 22 for removal and replacement. When this button 26 is pressed down, it raises a release lever 38 which is pivoted at a belt-button shaft 40. The release lever 38 is provided with an inverted U- shaped stop clip 41 to limit upward movements at a position slightly above horizontal. The clip 41 is mounted on a block 42 by means of a screw 43. The release lever 38 carries at its rearward end a headed pin 44 which lies beneath a cocking lever 46. The cocking lever 46 extends back to a support assembly 48 for the idler mandrel 20.

As the release lever 38 is moved upward, it lifts the cocking lever 46 by means of pin 44 and thus rotates the mandrel support assembly 48 clockwise, as viewed in FIGURE 3, about its eccentric pivot axis 50. This pivot axis is parallel to and above the axis of the idler mandrel 20, so that the clockwise rotation of the mandrel support assembly causes the idler mandrel to be shifted a small distance toward the front of the machine and against the pressure of an idler mandrel loading spring 52. The solid line circle in FIGURE 3 to which reference numeral 20 leads indicates the initial position of mandrel 20 while the broken line circle indicates the subsequent position of this mandrel. This forward movement of the idler mandrel removes the tension on the belt-record 22 to permit the beltrecord to be slipped off of the mandrels 18 and 20.

The release lever 38 is held in its record-release position by an upstanding tab 54 which moves in under the head 56 of headed pin 44 on the release lever. The tab 54 is carried by a trigger lever 58 which is rotatably mounted on a vertical pivot 60 on block 43 and is turned in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIGURE 2, by a spring 62. When the head 56 of pin 44 rises above tab 54, the rearward end of trigger lever 58 snaps to the left under the action of spring 62 and locks the entire linkage in its lifted position. This causes the forward end of the trigger lever 58 to move the right so that an upstanding finger 64 at this end of the trigger lever moves to the right and abuts against the left hand end of mandrel 18.

Mandrel 18 has an axially mvoable flanged portion 66 at its left-hand end which is adapted to be moved to the right along the longitudinal axis of mandrel 18 as finger 64 is moved to the right and to the left as the belt-record 22 is slipped over the mandrels toward the left and the leading edge of the belt-record abuts against the flanged portion. FIGURE 4 shows the details of flanged portion 66 and its relation to the other parts of mandrel 18 and the drive shaft 68. The flanged portion 66 has a flange 66a and a cylindrical section 66b through which drive shaft 68 passes. The belt driving portion of mandrel 18, in the form of a tubular member 69, is press fitted on a pair of collars 70a and 70b which, in turn, are press fitted on the drive shaft 68 so that the tubular member rotates with the drive shaft. The axially movable flanged portion 66 is mounted on the drive shaft 68 by a pair of bearings 72a and 7212 which allow the flanged portion to rotate freely relative to the drive shaft and move along the longitudinal axis of the drive shaft. The extent of the axial movements of flanged portion 66 is limited by a stop 74 secured to the drive shaft 68 and the tubular member 69.

The upstanding finger 64 on trigger lever 58 is located in the path of movement of the flanged portion 66 when the tension triggering mechanism is cocked. As a result, when a belt-record is slipped over the mandrels 18 and 20 and the leading edge of the belt-record abuts against the flange 66a over an arc of the flanged portion is moved to the left and drives the upstanding finger 64 to the left to release the idler mandrel 20 to its operating position in which the record is tensioned. In particular, when the upstanding finger 64 is moved to the left in response to the belt-record abutting against flange 66a, the trigger lever 58 is rotated clockwise, as viewed in FIGURE 2, about pivot 60 and against spring 62. The tab 54, on the rear end of trigger lever 58, moves out from under the head of pin 44, thereby withdrawing the support under head 56, thus permitting the release lever to rotate clockwise as viewed in FIGURE 3, under the urging of its bias spring 39. This, in turn, releases cocking lever 46 which is acted upon by the mandrel loading spring 52 since pin 44 moves downward as the release lever turns clockwise. Therefore, almost instantaneously, the idler mandrel 20 is rotated to the rear about its eccentric mounting axis 50 and applies the required tension to the belt-record. As the head 56 of pin 44 moves downward, it passes behind tab 54, as viewed in FIGURE 3, and thereby prevents finger 64 from moving to the right. This eliminates wear and scraping noises which might otherwise occur between finger 64 and flange 66a if the flanged portion turns either through a mechanical coupling to the drive shaft, to be described hereinafter, or as it is dragged by the belt-record.

The leading edge of the belt-record 22 rests against It will be evident from the above, that the belt-record 22 may be installed quickly on the mandrels 18 and 20 without any significant effort by the dictator. Because the belt-record bears against the flange 66a over an arc of 180", the belt will not collapse or be crimped or damaged as the tension triggering mechanism is being released. The trigger lever 58 is pivoted at a point near its rearward end, thus providing a relatively large mechanical advantage so as to assure positive actuation by the belt-record. The rearward end of the trigger lever is Weighted to provide a dynamic balance of this lever about its pivot axis, thus assuring that there will be no inadvertent operation of the release mechanism if the machine is jolted, as by dropping.

Referring again to FIGURE 4, if it is desired to drive the belt-record through the flanged portion 66 as well as through tubular member 69, the flanged portion may be coupled to the tubular member so that the two turn together with the drive shaft 68. This coupling is elfected in the embodiment shown in FIGURE 4 by means of pin 76 press fitted into a well in collar 70a and loosely engaging a hole in the juxtaposed end of the cylindrical section 66b. The flanged portion 66 still may move axially relative to the tubular member 69 but is coupled to the tubular member for rotation.

FIGURE 5 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. Whereas, in FIGURE 4 the outside diameter of the cylindrical section 66b is equal to the outside diameter of mandrel 18 so that a belt-record rests upon both cylindrical section 66b and tubular member 69, in FIGURE 5 the cylindrical section 78b fits within a tubular member 79 so that a belt-record rests only on tubular member 79. In the FIGURE 5 embodiment, no coupling need be provided between the movable flanged portion and tubular member 79 since a belt-record is driven throughout its entire axial length by tubular member 79.

A typical axial movement of the flanged portion 66 is 0.05". 0.03" is provided for releasing the tension triggering mechanism and 0.02 is allowed for manufacturing tolerances.

The ratio of the diameter of flange 66a to the length of the flanged portion 66 preferably is at last 2:3. Otherwise, the off-center force required to release the tension triggering mechanism may cause the flanged portion to bind on the drive shaft.

While there have been described what are at present considered to be the preferred embodiments of this invention it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention and it is, therefore, aimed to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

to said movable mandrel to produce movement of said movable mandrel toward said other mandrel, thereby to release the tension of a belt-record on said mandrels to permit the belt-record to be withdrawn;

and latching means on said machine frame operable to hold said movable mandrel in the tension-released position to permit a belt-record to be withdrawn, said latching means being in the path of movement of said axially movable portion so that as a belt-record is slipped over said mandrels and said movable portion is moved axially, said movable portion pushes said latching means to deactuate said latching means and allow said movable mandrel to be shifted back to its position with tension on the belt-record.

2. Dictation apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said axially movable portion has a circular flange which is adapted to engage the leading edge of a belt-record over an arc of 3. Dictation apparatus comprising:

a machine frame;

first and second mandrels rotatably mounted on said frame and adapted to support a belt-record, said first mandrel movable toward said second mandrel and said second mandrel having a flanged portion movable along the longitudinal axis of said second mandrel and adapted to be moved along said longitudinal axis as a belt-record is slipped over said mandrels and the leading edge of the belt-record abuts against said flanged portion over a selected arc length;

a belt release mechanism mounted on said frame;

linkage means connecting said belt release mechanism to said first mandrel to produce movement of said first mandrel toward said second mandrel, thereby to release the tension of a belt-record to be with drawn;

and latching means on said machine frame operable to hold said first mandrel in the tension-released position to permit a belt-record to be withdrawn, said latching means being in the path of movement of said flanged portion so that as a belt-record is slipped over said mandrels and said flanged portion is moved along said longitudinal axis, said flanged portion abuts against said latching means to deactuate said latching means and allow said first mandrel to be shifted back to its position with tension on the belt-record.

4. Dictation apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said second mandrel is mounted on a shaft to turn with said shaft and said flanged portion is mounted on said shaft to turn freely on said shaft.

5. Dictation apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said flanged portion includes a cylindrical section through which said shaft passes.

6. Dictation apparatus according to claim 5 wherein the outside diameter of said cylindrical section is equal to the outside diameter of said second mandrel so that a belt-record slipped over said mandrels rests upon saidcylindrical section.

7. Dictation apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said second mandrel has a tubular section within which said cylindrical section of said flanged portion fits.

8. Dictation apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said flanged portion is coupled to said second mandrel so that said flanged portion and said second mandrel turn together.

9. A mandrel for a dictating machine comprising:

a shaft;

a tubular member secured to said shaft and rotatable with said shaft;

and a flanged member mounted on said shaft for free rotation relative to said shaft and for movement along the longitudinal axis of said shaft in response to the edge of a relatively thin, flexible belt-record abutting against said flanged member as said beltrecord is slipped over said tubular member in a direction along said longitudinal axis.

10. Dictation apparatus according to claim 9 wherein said flanged member includes a cylindrical section through which said shaft passes.

11. Dictation apparatus according to claim 10 wherein the outside diameter of said cylindrical section is equal to the outside diameter of said tubular member so that a belt-record slipped over said tubular member rests upon said cylindrical section.

12. Dictation apparatus according to claim 10 wherein said cylindrical section fits within said tubular member.

13. Dictation apparatus according to claim 9 wherein said flanged member is coupled to said tubular member so that said flanged member and said tubular member turn together.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/1966 Wolfner et a1. 3/1914 De Kleist 24273 U.S. Cl X.R. 24273; 27440 

